Dozens Hospitalized, Several Killed As Severe Weather Hits The South And Midwest

Miles Parks,James Doubek, NPR Digital Media

May 1, 2017

Updated at 8 p.m. ET Sunday

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Multiple tornadoes rolled through a number of small towns in Texas on Saturday, in a streak of severe weather that's swept the South and the Midwest into Sunday.

At least three people have died in Arkansas after storms brought strong winds and floods. In the town of Springdale, a 10-year-old girl died early Sunday after she was swept away by flood waters, the city's police department said. Also in northwest Arkansas, rescuers continued their search for an 18-month-old girl and a 4-year-old boy after their mother's car was swept off a bridge by high waters in Hindsville, the Madison County Sheriff's Office said.

In Texas, a tornado killed at least five people and injured dozens of others in Canton, a small city in the eastern part of the state on Saturday.

Capt. Brian Horton of the Canton Fire Department told reporters late Saturday that numbers were "still coming in," but there were "maybe five casualties." The number could rise as search teams expand their operation in the morning, he said.

"We still may have some people that aren't accounted for," he said.

At least 54 people went to hospitals and one person is in critical condition, ETMC Regional Healthcare Systems spokeswoman Rebecca Berkley told The Associated Press.

Pictures on social media show crushed cars, destroyed buildings and trees stripped of branches and leaves.

Horton, of the Canton Fire Department, told reporters that a triage has been set up at a high school, the AP reports. He asked for people to stay out of the affected area, "so that our teams can do what they need to do to take care of these people who are in need."

Midwestern states experienced severe weather as well Saturday, including floods and thunderstorms, NPR's Newscast reports.

A 72-year-old woman died after she was swept away by flood waters in Missouri, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. The state reported nearly 100 evacuations and nearly three dozen rescues as of Saturday evening.

In Arkansas, a woman was killed while laying on her couch, when a tree fell through the roof of her mobile home, according to Fox 16 in Little Rock.

Thunderstorms downed power lines in Oklahoma, and the governor there declared a state of emergency, but no deaths had been reported there as of Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service also issued a blizzard warning for parts of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado.